2014

The International Year of Crystallography 2014

The International Year of Crystallography 2014 was coordinated jointly by UNESCO and the International Union of Crystallography. It was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2012.

The year 2014 marked the centennial of the birth of X-ray crystallography, thanks to the work of W. H. and W. L. Bragg, and M. von Laue who was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals.

In the International Year of Crystallography the following actions were completed through the effort of the Commission members:

A. Preparation of calendars for the International Year of Crystallography IYCr2014. The official calendar printed by the IUCr and distributed during the Opening Ceremony of IYCr2014 was an initiative of the Commission (CrysAC) (Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha, Bernardo Cesare). This calendar as well as other calendars prepared by the Commission can be downloaded from http://crysac.visual-chemistry.net/downloads.html

B. Several public exhibitions were organized:

1. October 2013 – March 2014: Padova, Italy – Exhibition CRISTALLI (organized by Gilberto Artioli). More at http://147.162.183.151/cristalli/welcome.html , http://www.iycr2014.org/photos/italy/cristalli . The panels, the text and the iconographic part of the exhibition traveled through Italy as part of other events: http://www.iycr2014.it/eventi .

2. May 2014 – May 2015: Krakow, Poland – Exhibition In The Unusual World of Crystals (organized by Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha in cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University) was shown 14 times in various places in Poland. More at http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/krysztaly_wystawa/ .

3. Juan Manuel Garciía-Ruiz & Fermín Otálora, from the Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos (IACT, CSIC/UGr) developed the exhibition CRISTALES to increase the awareness of students and the general public about crystallography. All materials are available at the web site http://cristales2014.org

C. Special conferences, sessions, lectures:

1. During the Opening Ceremony of IYCr2014 (Paris, France, 20–21 January 2014), two members of CrysAC delivered lectures:

• Abdelmalek Thalal – Symmetry in Art and Architecture of the Western Islamic Golden Age;
• Emil Makovicky – Highlights of Eastern Islamic Ornamental Art As Seen Through Crystallographers' Eyes.

2. Organization of the international scientific conference: 5th Meeting X-ray and Other Techniques in Investigations of the Objects of Cultural Heritage. Celebrating the International Year of Crystallography and the 650th Anniversary of Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, 14–17 May 2014 (organized by A. Rafalska-Lasocha; G. Artioli and P. Bezdicka lectured). More at http://www.chemia.uj.edu.pl/nauka-i-badania/konferencje/X-ray .

3. Organization of the scientific session Role of Crystallography in Science, Art and Everyday Life in cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, 14 May 2014 (A. Rafalska-Lasocha).

4. 5th ALMA interdisciplinary conference 2014: Interpretation of the Fine Art Analysis in Various Contexts, Dominican Monastery of St Giles, Prague, Czech Republic, 20–21 November 2014 (Petr Bezdicka, David and Janka Hradil, ALMA Laboratory).

5. 294th edition of the one-day Rozhovory seminar: Discussions on Problems of X-ray and Neutron Structure Analysis, 23 April 2014. See http://www.xray.cz/xray/csca/r294_en.htm (Petr Bezdicka, Radek Kuzel, Silvie Svarcova).

6. Colloquium Struktura 2014 of the Czech and Slovak Crystallographic Association and Regional Committee of the IUCr, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic, 9–12 June 2014 (Petr Bezdicka).

7. Presentation at Montreal Congress: Crystallography on Stage: Presenting the Concepts and History Dramatically (Celerino Abad-Zapatero).

8. Lecture Diagnostics in Art and Archaeology: Concepts and Case Studies, GABEC-GNM International School on Innovative Methodologies for Characterization, Diagnosis and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage, Catania-Siracusa, Italy, 1–4 July 2014 (Gilberto Artioli).

9. Lectures on Crystallography and the International Year of Crystallography delivered in Krakow, Madrid, Warsaw etc. (Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha).

10. IYCr2014 OpenLab Ghana, University of Ghana, Accra, 9–12 June 2014 (G. Artioli, PANalytical).

11. IYCr2014 OpenLab Turkey, Bilkent University, Ankara, 19–22 January 2015 (G. Artioli, PANalytical), contained a full day on cultural heritage.

D. Crystallography contest:

1. The Commission, in cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry of Jagiellonian University, organized a contest entitled The Role of Crystals in Human Life for secondary-school, high-school and University students in Poland (Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha). More about the contest and most of the contributions (in Polish) can be found at http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/konkurs_krysztaly/ . A photo gallery is available at http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/konkurs_krysztaly/?page_id=525 .

Participants in the contest were asked to prepare a poster, a presentation or a video clip. Prepared contributions were sent to the organizers by e-mail. The deadline was 28 February 2014. We received 99 contributions: (61 from secondary-school students, 33 from high-school students, and 5 from University students). The judging was carried out in two stages: online voting and after that experts' evaluation. In online voting, 8819 votes were received.

E. Continuing project. Celerino Abad-Zapatero continued collaboration with Mr Painton Cowen to incorporate scientific content into the Rose Window web site (http://therosewindow.com/TheRoseWindow2/Rose-numbers.htm ). 

Opening Ceremony, Paris, 20-21 January 2014 The International Year of Crystallography was launched at the Paris headquarters of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 20-21 January 2014. More detailed information about the opening ceremony is available at: http://www.iycr2014.org/opening-ceremony. More than 800 people attended the opening ceremony. Among the participants were government representatives, scientists and journalists. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and IUCr President Gautam R. Desiraju presided over the opening session of this two-day event. Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage was widely represented in the programme: Philippe Walter - Director of the Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archaeology (CNRS/UPMC) in Paris, this year also the chair in technological innovation at the Collège de France, delivered a lecture on Crystallography in the studies of art and historical artefacts. In Session 4 - Crystallography, symmetry and art two members of CrysAC Commission gave interesting lectures. Professor Abdelmalek Thalal from the Deparment of Physics at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech (Morocco) told about Symmetry in art and architecture of the western Islamic Golden Age and professor Emil Makovicky from University of Copenhagen (Denmark) delivered a lecture entitled Highlights of eastern Islamic ornamental art as seen through crystallographers' eyes. One more lecture - Modern math in medieval Islamic architecture was given in this session by Peter J. Lu from Harvard University. The participants of the opening ceremony have also an opportunity to visit an exhibition on Journey into the Crystal prepared by French scientist Jean-Louis.Hodeau. Special calendars for the International Year of Crystallography were designed on the initiative of the IUCr Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage. > Calendar downloads Alicja Rafalska-Łasocha, Jagiellonian University in Krakow Photographic Impressions of the Opening in Paris
		IUCr President Gautam R. Desiraju presided over the opening session.
Exhibition: Journey into the Crystal, prepared by Jean-Louis.Hodeau.		UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
Philippe Walter - Director of the Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archaeology (CNRS/UPMC), Paris, on Crystallography in the studies of art and historical artefacts.		Abdelmalek Thalal from the Deparment of Physics at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech (Morocco) told about Symmetry in art and architecture of the western Islamic Golden Age.
Emil Makovicky from University of Copenhagen (Denmark) on Highlights of eastern Islamic ornamental art as seen through crystallographers' eyes.		Peter J. Lu from Harvard University on modern math in medieval Islamic architecture.